Today we have a visit by Jennifer Slattery - and she wanted to take her spot to highlight a missionary doctor instead of promoting herself. Isn't that sweet? In addition, she's giving away of one of her books, reader's choice! All you have to do is answer the question in the blog (in red) and include contact information.
Here's Jennifer:
How many challenges and setbacks can one man encounter
before he decides to give up?
I hate to admit it, but if I’d experienced even half of what
Dr. Ohaju, director of St. Joseph’s trauma center (http://www.st-joseph.org/trauma-and-emergency-care.)
endured, I fear I may have retreated. Thrown my hands up in defeat and turned
down an easier path.
I could learn a great deal from Dr. Ohaju, not only about
perseverance but about gratitude, humility, and what it means to have a
servant’s heart.
I met this man during a very frightening and stressful time.
My mom-in-law had gone into the emergency room with stomach pain and a
distended abdomen. After an emergency scope, she was rushed into surgery where
Dr. Ohaju saved her life.
I shudder to think what might have happened had God not
placed my mom-in-law under his care that week, and it was a good week that she
spent in the hospital as she began the difficult and painful process of
recovering from major surgery.
While dealing with a cancer diagnosis. That stung, and
created all sorts of questions and uncertainties. You could feel the
apprehension in the room, a tension that instantly dissipated whenever Dr.
Ohaju walked in. God’s love flowed from him and instantly set us all at ease.
We knew immediately not only that we were in the presence of a brilliant and
compassionate surgeon, but also that, through him, God had absolutely
everything under control.
That’s what happens
when we surrender our gifts and passions into God’s hands; He uses our every
act as a love letter from us to His hurting world. As he did for us through
Dr. Ohaju, and as he does for numerous impoverished Nigerians to this day, also
through Dr. Ohaju.
He grew up during the Nigerian Civil war, also called the
War of Biafra. It was a brutal, terrifying time where innocent people were
slaughtered and masses of children and the elderly were abandoned. Many starved
to death.
During this time, Dr. Ohaju did whatever he could to survive
while helping his family put food on the table. One would find him standing
outside the train station, waiting to sell oranges or bananas or whatever he
could find to hungry travelers. He went to school in starts and stops, when he
was able. Until it came time for him to enter sixth grade, when, in Nigeria,
one must pay to go to school.
There was no way Dr. Ohaju’s family could pay his tuition.
Until one day, a teacher had mercy, and offered him an
opened doorway. One of many to come. Because God saw something in Dr. Ohaju—God
saw past his devastating beginnings to the gift that poor little boy would one
day grow to be.
I’ll be telling his story, which is quite extensive and
nothing short of miraculous, over the coming year, but first, I’ll give you the
ending. Well, not the ending, as his story is still unfolding, but what this
godly man is doing now.
By God’s grace and with the help of others, Dr. Ohaju came
to America where he pursued a degree in medicine. It was an incredibly
difficult and long journey. One marked by heartbreak, for while he was in
America, his father, back in Nigeria, died. From a treatable condition. Like so
many others in Dr. Ohaju’s homeland.
Many Nigerians are dying daily from illnesses and diseases
that are easily treatable, a tragedy Dr. Ohaju is determined to do something
about through the medical missions nonprofit he started. In 2004, the VOOM foundation, named after his
deceased father, was born. The mission’s goal: to bring medical care to the
poor and indigenes of Nigeria.
And you can help. I encourage you to check out his foundations
website (http://www.voomfoundation.org/)
and visit them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/VOOM-Foundation-527848877273035/).
I also invite you to visit a blog I’ll be starting at the end of this month
titled Truth in Fiction where I’ll be sharing bits of Dr. Ohaju’s story in more
detail. In addition, I’m hoping to capture the essence of his story in a
full-length novel, one he’s graciously agreed to help me with.
In the meantime, pray for us both: pray that he stays
encouraged and focused on the call God has infused in his heart, and pray for
me that I can capture the beauty, miracle, and perseverance of his story in
novel form.
Now it’s your turn. What thoughts came to mind as you read
about Dr. Ohaju’s story? How do you typically respond to setbacks?
Jennifer Slattery writes soul-stirring fiction for New
Hope Publishers, a publishing house passionate about bringing God’s healing
grace and truth to the hopeless. She also writes for Crosswalk.com, Internet
Café Devotions, and the group blog, Faith-filled Friends. When not writing, Jennifer
loves going on mall dates with her adult daughter and coffee dates with her hilariously
fun husband.
Visit
with Jennifer online at JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud.com and connect with her
on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/JenSlatte
Intertwined:
Abandoned by
her husband for another woman, Tammy Kuhn, an organ procurement coordinator
often finds herself in tense and bitter moments. After an altercation with a
doctor, she is fighting to keep her job and her sanity when one late night she
encounters her old flame Nick. She walks right into his moment of facing an
unthinkable tragedy. Because they both have learned to find eternal purposes in
every event and encounter, it doesn’t take long to discover that their lives are
intertwined but the ICU is no place for romance….or is it? Could this be where
life begins again?
Intertwined, part of
New Hope Publisher’s contemporary fiction line, is a great reminder of how God
can turn our greatest tragedies and failures into beautiful acts of love and
grace. Readers will fall in love with the realistic characters and enjoy the
combination of depth, heart-felt emotion and humor that makes Jennifer’s novels
so appealing. Readers will be inspired to find God in every moment and encounter
in their own lives!
Buy it:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Intertwined-Jennifer-Slattery/dp/1596694432/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/intertwined-jennifer-slattery/1121268293?ean=9781596694439
Jennifer is giving away a copy of one of her books - reader's choice. Here they are:
When Dawn Breaks: http://www.amazon.com/
Or, if it'd be easier, you could simply point them to my books page on my blog: http://
6 comments:
would love to win. angelachesnut246@gmail.com
I love that she was willing to give her spot up for you to share about this amazing doctor! What a inspiration! If I'm honest, I typically respond to setbacks by complaining rather than prayer. :(
Lord, you've got some work to do on me! Good thing you're not finished with me yet.
sarahsmithstorm@gmaildotcom
Sounds like an excellent book.
What a wonderful story to share with us today. I can't imagine all the struggles and obstacles he had to overcome. The book sounds like a great one to read and be encouraged by. Thank you for sharing an emotional , uplifting story of a remarkable msn .
I turn to God and ask Him fro strength to see me through and the wisdom to make the right choices to correct the issues.
Connie
cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com
congratulations to Connie!
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